


we have the antidote, too

by strikethesun



Series: The Anne Neville Cycle [2]
Category: 15th Century CE RPF
Genre: F/F, Ghosts, Unhealthy Relationships, a singular ghost that might just be a dream, man-hating, written mostly over the course of several plane trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22554988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strikethesun/pseuds/strikethesun
Summary: "you were the only person who made me feel whole. none of our men are capable. they’ve been poisoned by their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. we’ve been poisoned by them."two queens of england get to talking in a hallway in westminster palace; only one of them is actually the queen. the other is in a much, much better place.
Relationships: Elizabeth of York Queen of England/Anne Neville Queen of England
Series: The Anne Neville Cycle [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750822
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	we have the antidote, too

when elizabeth awoke, it was to a ghost standing perfectly still a few feet beyond the foot of her bed. she identified the ghost instantly as anne, and just as quickly looked over to her husband, still sleeping peacefully, quietly hoping that anne’s reckoning was directed towards the old king’s killer, and not towards the new, fertile, fresh-faced, beloved queen.

she suddenly hated herself for being so selfish, wondered if wishing her dead aunt’s spirit to haunt the king of england could count as treason. however, anne just smiled, shockingly serene, and slowly floated over to the door. before elizabeth’s eyes, anne passed through the ornate wood, and she swore she heard a laugh that hadn’t been brought to life since the days that her poor little cousin was the prince of wales.

elizabeth slowly, gently got out of bed, not taking her eyes off of her sleeping husband. she now remembered anne’s warnings about sleeping with men, how their dreams were frequently troubled by the memories of all that they’ve done (the implication that all men have something to answer for left unsaid, even more painful in its silence than it would’ve sounded in anne’s consumptive voice), but if this applied to henry, it didn’t seem to show on his face. she had quickly learned that once her husband fell asleep, he stayed so until the morning. impulsively, elizabeth tucked the covers around him, out of a sudden rush of genuine affection.

opening the heavy door quietly was a challenge, closing it again more so, but the sight that greeted her in the cavernous hallway beyond was a true reward. anne had apparently given up on looking like the popular conception of a ghost and appeared in full color, nowhere near as pale as she was the last time elizabeth saw her in the flesh. however, her dress was relatively plain, as though she were only a minor noblewoman, or even elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting. when anne began to sink into a deep curtsy, elizabeth remembered how thick the door to the bedroom was and let her voice ring out.

“are you trying to mock me? did you come here to make me feel bad? because i already do, so it isn’t necessary. i know i don’t belong in your shoes.”

anne stopped her with a laugh and smiled from ear to ear; the sincerity of it stung. “oh, lizzie. i know you feel bad. i came to tell you that you shouldn’t. you may not believe me, but you’ve already had more happiness as queen than i did in an entire year and a half, and you will have much more time than me to hold onto that happiness.”

elizabeth nervously fingered the folds of her shift. “happiness? i’m still in mourning for an entire family. mine. do you...” she fought back tears. “do you talk to the rest of them? can you?”

anne nodded. “yes, there are plenty of yorks where i come from. you shouldn’t be in any hurry to join us, though.” another painfully honest smile. “i know you think we all must hate you, but we really couldn’t be prouder. not a one of us thinks you’re a traitor. we watch you cry when nobody else is around, but we can’t dry your tears, and that’s the worst part of being dead. the rest is nice. i think you’ll like it a lot.”

“i can never forgive myself, anne. every time i see myself in those dresses, i think it should be you instead.” elizabeth swallowed. “i can’t forgive my uncle nor my husband. in my dreams, there is no king. it’s just us, and your sister, and everyone’s mothers and everyone’s children, but that’s as far as i get before waking up. is there a king where you’re from, anne?”

anne shook her head, joy apparent on her face. “there would be too many who could lay claim to the title, and few of them would want it anyways. there’s so much that doesn’t matter anymore. it’s freedom. it’s transcendence. there are many regrets, but few conflicts. it’s full of atoners. it’s the perfect place for women like us.” she extended a hand, but elizabeth’s eager one fell right through the illusion.

“that was cruel of you, anne,” elizabeth sighed. “i want to hold you again so badly. henry,” she stifled a laugh, “still thinks i laid with your husband.”

anne giggled. “they tend to think that, don’t they? in all seriousness though, lizzie, i also came here to apologize. what we did together was...wrong, for several reasons, even if the one that most would jump to isn’t one of them. you’re much younger, my niece, my second cousin, and, once, my subject, technically at my mercy.” she frowned, but radiance continued to glow behind her face. “you were the only person who made me feel whole. none of our men are capable. they’ve been poisoned by their fathers and their fathers’ fathers. we’ve been poisoned by them. we have the antidote, too. but i still shouldn’t have done what i did to you, or asked you to do what you did to me.”

“oh, anne,” elizabeth choked out, “i know you’re right, but it didn’t seem that way at all at the time. all i’ve done since is miss you, and i can’t talk about it to anyone. come home, or let me come with you.”

“i am home, and so are you. you have so much more life to live, and i have so much more death to enjoy.”

with those words, anne vanished, and in the next moment elizabeth found herself alone in her familiar, massive bed, dried tears stuck to her eyes, sunlight flooding the bedchamber.


End file.
